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Dredging the Chesterfield?


noddyboater

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1 minute ago, Naughty Cal said:

Was the chesterfield every very deep?

Yes, although never used by working boats with engines it once had a useable depth, at least in the centre.

Sections that have been dredged are remarkably easy to travel along, almost like a “normal” canal. 

Somewhere I have a photo of a loaded narrowboat near Drakeholes, I think it was taken in the eighties. You wouldn’t have a hope of that now.

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2 minutes ago, noddyboater said:

Yes, although never used by working boats with engines it once had a useable depth, at least in the centre.

Sections that have been dredged are remarkably easy to travel along, almost like a “normal” canal. 

Somewhere I have a photo of a loaded narrowboat near Drakeholes, I think it was taken in the eighties. You wouldn’t have a hope of that now.

We did manage to ground the dinghy just past Drakeholes by taking our eye off the ball for a few seconds.

 

But I was under the impression that the Chesterfield was only ever two foot odd draft anyway. Or am I wrong?

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Here's a link to dredging on the Chesterfield Canal over 100 years ago.

 

http://www.pittdixon.go-plus.net/ac-maintenance/ac-maintenance.htm

 

The dredger  was taken to that canal from the Ashton Canal by rail over the GCR's Woodhead route. The dredging  may have been in connection with the Great War creating increased traffic on the Chesterfield. Do we know if that was the case?The GCR in those days  would  have a legal liability to maintain the navigation.

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22 hours ago, noddyboater said:

The length between the Gate Inn winding hole and Bonemill Bridge has been one of the worst for years.

A walk along it on a day without any boat movements ( not difficult) when the water is gin clear confirms it without needing a depth survey.

Yes, like much of the canal you can skim along nicely in a springer or shallow draughted boat, but try it with something a bit more substantial and it becomes a bit tedious. 

As mentioned earlier, Python may have a 3’ draught but it’s only at its arse end, she’s also quite short. A long, deep boat doesn’t follow the channel on the Chessy, it ploughs a new one. Talk to people who visit with such boats and it really does put them off returning, and then they tell their friends.. which as we know is a shame. 

Good luck engaging the heavy handed business man at Walkeringham brick yard with your plans. Unless it will help his previously failed planning applications I fear his interest in the canal will be very short lived.

On a lighter note, with all the talk of the view from my bedroom window here it is.

3186D7A3-4396-4E94-AD18-FA1E8CD6BCB1.jpeg

Yes Python is only 50' and so she is more able to stick to the channel on the bendy bits than a longer boat would, one of the reasons she is the perfect boat for maintenance, you can shove the bow into the shallow offside and still keep some water under the prop in the middle. However the stretch between The Gate Winding Hole and Bonemill Bridge has never even flagged on our radar as being anything close to "the worst", Also as it only has a very gentle curve rather than any of the wiggly bits like found up towards Ranby there should be no problem a long deep draughted boat keeping to the channel (although sods law predicts that Python would come in the opposite direction :)

Indeed the what were the worst bits where we got stuck every time we passed have already been dealt with and I would suggest the next "worst" that we regularly transit is between downgate of Greys Bridge where the scour comes in from the brook that enters there. We find that stretch slow going in our own boat which is of the "floats on a damp teatowel" type of draught.

 

The plans for the brickworks at Walkeringham are due to be released any day now. I personally feel that it is exactly what is needed for that long derelict site and wish him all the best with creating a destination for canal visitors and boaters alike. His ideas for using the salvaged materials, like the pan tiles and all the old bricks from the underground ventilation channels to create a bar/restaurant around the base of the iconic chimney are great. We have a good relationship with the landowner who has been most accommodating of our team and came out to join us when we were clearing the vegetation along the edge of his land. He has recently (safely) cleared a huge number of collapsed pallets full of dumped corrugated asbestos from the bank of the canal and is in the process of planting it with lavender to attract the bees. Trees that have had to be removed are being lifted with roots to re- plant further back on his land

 

I have to admit I covert the view from your bedroom window and know exactly which window that is :) One of the things I adore (and point out to volunteers when we pass) is the fact that your cottage is detached, even though at first glance it looks like a semi. I love looking for the point where you can see straught through the ginnel between :)

Do you know the history of why they two were built so close? I have often wondered

19 hours ago, noddyboater said:

Yes, although never used by working boats with engines it once had a useable depth, at least in the centre.

Sections that have been dredged are remarkably easy to travel along, almost like a “normal” canal. 

Somewhere I have a photo of a loaded narrowboat near Drakeholes, I think it was taken in the eighties. You wouldn’t have a hope of that now.

Different sections were always different depths. certainly there were bits that were always a bit shallow and the Gate to Bonemill Bridge is, I believe one of them. I know when we are out with Richard Allsop at the helm he knows chapter and verse of which bits should be what depth and will suck his teeth and point out how bad it is quoting what it should be.

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1 hour ago, cheshire~rose said:

Yes Python is only 50' and so she is more able to stick to the channel on the bendy bits than a longer boat would, one of the reasons she is the perfect boat for maintenance, you can shove the bow into the shallow offside and still keep some water under the prop in the middle. However the stretch between The Gate Winding Hole and Bonemill Bridge has never even flagged on our radar as being anything close to "the worst", Also as it only has a very gentle curve rather than any of the wiggly bits like found up towards Ranby there should be no problem a long deep draughted boat keeping to the channel (although sods law predicts that Python would come in the opposite direction :)

Indeed the what were the worst bits where we got stuck every time we passed have already been dealt with and I would suggest the next "worst" that we regularly transit is between downgate of Greys Bridge where the scour comes in from the brook that enters there. We find that stretch slow going in our own boat which is of the "floats on a damp teatowel" type of draught.

 

The plans for the brickworks at Walkeringham are due to be released any day now. I personally feel that it is exactly what is needed for that long derelict site and wish him all the best with creating a destination for canal visitors and boaters alike. His ideas for using the salvaged materials, like the pan tiles and all the old bricks from the underground ventilation channels to create a bar/restaurant around the base of the iconic chimney are great. We have a good relationship with the landowner who has been most accommodating of our team and came out to join us when we were clearing the vegetation along the edge of his land. He has recently (safely) cleared a huge number of collapsed pallets full of dumped corrugated asbestos from the bank of the canal and is in the process of planting it with lavender to attract the bees. Trees that have had to be removed are being lifted with roots to re- plant further back on his land

 

I have to admit I covert the view from your bedroom window and know exactly which window that is :) One of the things I adore (and point out to volunteers when we pass) is the fact that your cottage is detached, even though at first glance it looks like a semi. I love looking for the point where you can see straught through the ginnel between :)

Do you know the history of why they two were built so close? I have often wondered

Different sections were always different depths. certainly there were bits that were always a bit shallow and the Gate to Bonemill Bridge is, I believe one of them. I know when we are out with Richard Allsop at the helm he knows chapter and verse of which bits should be what depth and will suck his teeth and point out how bad it is quoting what it should be.

I wouldn’t class the Gate Inn bend as a gentle curve! It’s quite entertaining to sit with a pint and watch people make a hash of it but it really is too shallow to navigate easily. If we’re talking scours rather than silt I’d suggest below the first lock at Misterton. A bit of spot dredging here would help some visitors to enter the first lock on the canal without getting stuck in the middle.

Thanks for your comments about our quirky cottage, nobody seems to be sure of it’s history but we’re still digging. The gap between our neighbours is very odd, could have been a boundary issue. As you probably know the pub car park was once a wharf and our house was most likely part of that. The gothic windows face the canal and wharf, the back got normal horizontal sashes. Hard to see from the towpath, it also has curved bullnose bricks on all the corners wharf side, adding to the theory it had a lot of activity where the car park is now.

It’s a shame that a canalside cottage nearby has recently received its death certificate on the grounds of it having “no historical interest”, mainly because some poor sod stone clad it and put alloy windows in. 

Let’s not forget the asbestos was on the land when Billy Bulldozer inherited it, it was always going to be his responsibility to remove it. I’m afraid I won’t be sharing your enthusiasm for his plans as the first thing he did was to drain and destroy the old pond that’s been there for over 100 years. Full of wildlife of course and this is next to a SSSI. His ideas for the site change with the wind, industrial units rejected we’re back to a cosy crafty god knows what. The only thing that is consistent is his dumping and burning of industrial waste for which planning was rejected.

 I feel privileged that I was lucky to spend many hours exploring the site before it changed hands, it was a glimpse into the past which is now lost and unfortunately unrecorded. 

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2 hours ago, noddyboater said:

I wouldn’t class the Gate Inn bend as a gentle curve! It’s quite entertaining to sit with a pint and watch people make a hash of it but it really is too shallow to navigate easily. 

No, nor would I, but you were talking about The Gate Winding Hole and Bonemill Bridge. The Gate bend is downgate of the winding hole (admittedly only by a hundred meters or so) with the stretch you mentioned being upgate of the winding hole. That was why I did not include it in my estimations 

 

The bend at that bridge does catch folks out but I am unaware of it being caused by lack of depth (except for when folks try and put things right when they have already got it wrong) It is certainly a lot better since we cut back the huge overgrown hawthorn that was doing a great job of hiding behind the weeping willow that everyone's bow ended up in. It never seems a huge problem to nose into a weeping willow but that one used to bite back - especially if you had crew on the bow! 

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